Heart Tracks - Knowing The Truth

"Jesus said to the people who believed in Him, 'You are truly My disciples if you keep obeying My teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.' " John 8:32

I wonder; do we realize the difference between knowing truth, and knowing The Truth? Do we know the difference between being obedient because we should, and being obedient because we love? Do we follow a Christ we have large amounts of information about but little personal experience of? Do we have familiarity with who He is on paper, but no real intimacy with who He desires to be with and in us? Is our knowledge of Him centered in our minds, or in our hearts? Do we know the truth about Him, or do we know Him as Truth itself? How we answer such questions determines the reality of our relationship with Him. Is that relationship based in theory about Him, or intimate experience of Him?

For a very long time I saw John 8:32 as Jesus' declaration that He would show me what was true in this life, and what was not. And He does. But too many of us never get any deeper in Him than that. Jesus said that He meant for us to have "truth in our innermost being." This is truth, knowledge, that can only be ours through a deep, abiding life in Him. He doesn't just give us truth about life, He gives us the Truth of Himself in all of life. What grows out of this is wisdom, understanding, discernment. Traits that are sorely lacking in the Body these days. The Who sang the classic, "Won't Get Fooled Again," but we do. Again and again. There is only one "fool-proof" way.....knowing He who is Truth itself, for that Truth will then saturate our entire being.

When we gather in our fellowships, what is it that we encounter? Sermons that share facts about Him, or He who is Truth itself? We are not made to receive truth about Him that somehow works its way inward, but to receive Him as Truth and then allow that Truth to grow in us from the inside out. As it grows, it destroys all the strongholds (lies that pass themselves off as truth) in our hearts and minds. We then know Him as Truth, and that knowledge makes us free. Free from all the lies that have held us captive for so long.

John 8:32 is one of the most powerful statements Jesus ever made. Is the reality of that power, that truth, being worked out in our lives today? In your life today? We enter into this world under the power of a lie that says we have everything we need in ourselves. He who is Truth says we can only find that which we need, were created for, in Him. Do we know that Truth today? Not just as information, but experience? Pilate, thinking himself in control of everything, asked Jesus, "What is truth?" Truth was before him, but he couldn't see Him. A thief on a cross did, and received Him. He received Him who is Truth and was free, even on his cross. Pilate could tell you many things about Jesus that were true, yet he never knew Him as Truth. The thief likely could tell you little about Jesus and His life, yet he came to know Him as Truth. In our day to day walk and life with Him, who do we most resemble?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Where?

"The scroll containing the messages of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him, and He unrolled the scroll to the place where it says; 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for He has appointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppression, and that the time of the Lord's favor has come.' He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue stared at Him intently. Then He said, 'This scripture has come true today before your very eyes.' " Luke 4:17-21

In this beautiful passage of Scripture, Jesus tells a people who would have likely had the verses from Isaiah memorized as to the coming of the promised Messiah, that He was indeed the very One they had been waiting for. He was telling them that the words they had known so well, likely repeated among themselves constantly, and looked to come true each day, was standing right before them. The promise of that Scripture, always before their eyes, had now come fully true before those eyes. Their response? They didn't hear. They didn't see. They didn't believe. In fact, they attempted to throw Him off a nearby cliff.

If your're reading this, you likely have at least a general understanding of God's Word. If you've been going to church for any length of time, you have heard His Word through preaching, teaching and song. You may read your Bible each day, and pray as well. You may know Scripture by heart, and able to quote long passages of it. Yet there is a question here for you, me, all of us who have such mental knowledge of that Word. Where in our lives is it coming true? In one translation of the above passage, Jesus tells them that in this very day the Word they had heard and known all their lives was being fulfilled before their eyes. Where is His Word being fulfilled not only before our eyes, but in our hearts today?

How can it be that so many who are called by His Name, who know the words He has spoken, the promises He has given, still be unable to experience those words and promises in their lives? The Jews who heard Jesus speak the words they had so loved, could not, by their unbelief, enter into the fullness of the very promise they loved so deeply. How like them are we? Jesus Christ said that He came that we might have life, and have it in abundance. How many of us really do? How many captives are still in captivity? How many blind remain blind? How many, created for His favor, actually live in it? He came that we might have all of these and more. He came that we might have Him....in intimacy, freedom, and joy. Do we?

So for all of us, where are His words really being experienced and fulfilled in us? How much of it remains ink print on paper, words in a sermon or song? How much of it lives within us? Jesus said to His hearers, "Today this word is fulfilled before you." Today, where is it fulfilled in you?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Lag Time

"I will climb up into my watchtower now and wait to see what the Lord will say to me and how He will answer my complaint. Then the Lord said to me, 'Write My answer in large, clear letters on a tablet.....But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed." Habakkuk 2:1-3

Time lag: The period of time between two closely related events; between cause and effect.....That's a good, secular understanding of the term, but a friend recently gave it a spiritual one as well......and coined a better, I think, rendering; Lag time. He said that lag time is the difference between the Fathers giving of a promise and the realization of that promise. The gap between the two can be wide and that it was in that gap that most people "bail out." I think most of us are living in some form of lag time.

I heard a man once describe the length of time between His closing of one door and the opening of another as "Hell in the hallway." It's a kind of limbo. A place where we may not have any word from Him, and all that we do have is the Word(s) He has already spoken. It is on those words that we have to stand, and we can be sure that while we stand upon them, we will be mightily tested. Living in the lag time is an extremely uncomfortable way of life. I think it will always be part of the cost of realizing the vision He has given, and that is key. It must be HIS vision.

There is something else to know here. God gave this promise to Habakkuk, but Habakkuk would not live to see its fulfillment. He would be among those heroes of the faith listed in Hebrews who died trusting in His promises though they were not fulfilled in his lifetime. This is one of the greatest reasons that we "bail out" in lag time. Everything must be realized now! We only understand, or think we do, what's happening now. We have little concept of the eternal, and the eternal purpose of God. Eternity is always His central perspective. It is rarely ours. Our personal fulfillment and purposes being realized are not His greatest concern. His are. Few of us seem able to handle or accept that. Flesh life cannot live or survive in the lag time. Only Spirit life can.

There's something else to know here in the matter of His promises and visions. Habakkuk desired with all his heart to hear from God. So much so that he went up into a spiritual watchtower to do so. In that place he would stay until he did. If we are to hear and have word from Him, we can do no less. We cannot stay on the earthbound plane where the eyes of flesh reign. We have to have hearts that rise up in His Spirit in order to "see" and "hear" from Him. We need to be in our own watchtowers, looking for and expecting to behold Him. He will speak. And what He speaks and promises will almost surely involve for us lag time. It will involve our own hell in the hallway. What we must answer there is the question of whether will we trust Him? Will we hold to the promise and vision He shows us? Will we refuse to bail out, to lose heart in the lag time? We'll be confronted by these questions, but only if we dare to ascend to the watchtower. Ground level sight and life have a difficult time hearing or seeing anything but what is happening on the ground. Yet, as His word promises, if we will look up, we will see our redemption drawing near. Even in the lag time.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Springs and Streams

"There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fail." Psalm 46:4-5....."I have heard somewhere of a spring whose waters had certain medicinal properties that those who drank from it were helped in the case of various infirmities. In the course of time, homes sprang up around the spring, then a hotel, stores, and eventually a town that grew into a city. But there came a day when visitors would ask, 'By the way, where is the spring from where this grew?' and dwellers in the city would rub their hands in embarrassment and say, 'I am sorry that I cannot tell you, but somehow, in the midst of all our progress and improvement, we lost the spring and no one knows now where it is.' ...."There is a sad application here for the church. Under all our ecclesiastical superstructure today we have lost the spring. We have been lost on the circumference and need to get back to the Center."Vance Havner

T. Austin-Sparks defined the conversion experience, that is, the transformational encounter of coming to Christ, as an experience that placed Christ at the very center of our being. And from that center, He spreads out to the outermost places of our being and life, exercising total Lordship over all. He said that this was what is was to be a believer. He also said that this experience collides with every force in the universe that is against Christ. Havner said that the apostle Paul never left the Center of living at the spring, the stream that is Jesus Christ. Our problem is that we so easily do. As I saw it put by someone, we are always living out on the circumference of His life, on our own, trying to figure it all out, rather than in Him, living moment by moment in the reality of His presence. In our lives, our homes, our fellowships, we are so much like the city Havner spoke of. We have forgotten that from which we sprang. We speak much of our heritage and of His Living Water, but we have forgotten just where the Source of that water is. We have built up a great outer structure, but it is maintained by us and not the flow of His life giving water.

There was a classic sci-fi show called "The Outer Limits," that had the theme of taking the watcher to the furthest limits of their imagination and experience. The desire of the Father in Christ is to take us to the outer limits of spiritual experience yet never leaving our center in Christ. We live stretching forward in Him, yet we never cease to abide in the center of His being. As He takes us into ever new frontiers of life in Him, places where everything may well change around us, all stays centered completely in Him. Things around us change, we ourselves will certainly change.....He will never change. Except as He reveals to us more and more of the wonder of who He is.

The city Havner spoke of still had those life giving springs somewhere beneath it. It just remained for the people to reopen the path to them. For the church, that path will always be Christ. In Genesis 26, the Philistines, jealous and fearful of Isaac's growing wealth and power, filled in his wells of water with dirt and demanded he leave, which he did. Verse 18 says that upon arriving in the new land, which was his father Abraham's previous dwelling, "He reopened the wells his father had dug." I believe we in the church must do the same, and in every aspect of our lives and fellowships. The wells, springs, and streams of His Living Water remain available to us all. In our self-sufficiency and self-absorption, we may have forgotten where they are, but His voice calls us to follow Him, to reopen those wells, springs, and streams. To discover again that the stream which makes glad the city of God, does the same for His people and church. Does the stream flow in our lives and fellowships, or, have we forgotten where it is? Do we need to start digging and re-open those wells of life?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Discernment Or Deception?

Discernment Or Deception?

"He replied, 'You know the saying Red sky at night means fair weather tomorrow, red sky in the morning means foul weather all day. You are good at reading the weather signs in the sky, but you can't read the obvious signs of the times." Matthew 16:2-3....."From the tribe of Issachar there were two hundred leaders of the tribe with their relatives. All these men understood the temper of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take." 1 Chronicles 12:32

Spiritual discernment and deception. Without the first, we are surely going to fall victim to the second. In many ways we already have. The signs for this are everywhere....if we can discern them.

When Jesus spoke the above words to the Pharisees, He was speaking to the very men who should have been the first to recognize Him....but they didn't. They had spent their lives learning about the promised Messiah but couldn't see Him even when He stood before them. Eventually they saw to His death, all the while thinking they were doing the will of the Father. Even after His rising from the dead, accomplishing all that had been promised, they were still blind to the truth. They continued to go on looking for One who had already come, been before their eyes, yet they couldn't see Him. In these days, the Father is allowing much to pass before our eyes. The question is, can we see? Do our eyes discern Him and what is not Him in the events taking place all around us? Momentous things are taking place within the Church and the surrounding culture. Can we "see" where He is in them? Can we discern what is of Him and what is not? The first century Church invaded the culture surrounding it and turned the world upside down. Now, the surrounding culture has invaded the Church, and is turning it upside down. Instead of being a people led of His Spirit, wisdom and understanding, we're led of our own. We depend upon our own limited intellects, and not His infinite wisdom. The anti-Christ spirit is everywhere but we don't really notice that because in many ways, we don't really believe such a spirit even exists. Our young people dabble in games and entertainments that are often linked, sometimes very strongly with occult practices and backgrounds. Yet we say, "I don't see a problem." And that is the problem; we don't see. There is much we don't see. How can we, when we ourselves flirt with so many of the same things?

Be sure. Without His discernment operating in His Church, we will fall prey to deception. We are falling prey to deception. The very Word and authority of God is being challenged on every side, and more and more "blind leaders of the blind" are coming forth each day. The Church in the west is in desperate need of "men of Issachar." And women as well. People who indeed know "the temper of the times" and discern His leading for the course the Church must take. T. Austin Sparks said that "An anti-Christ is anything that tries to assume the place of Christ in our lives, and that they can seem to be so much alike." Only His discernment will reveal the difference. Beth Moore said that only the fullness of His Presence in our lives, homes and fellowships will safeguard us from deception. Do we live and abide in such a Presence of Him?

The need for men and women of Issachar is beyond desperate in the Church. Will we be among those who see all things in the light, understanding, and vision of Christ? Or will we be among the deceived, unable to see Him even when He is there, right before us?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Pursuing Pokemon

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so I long for You, O God. I thirst for God, the living God." Psalm 42:1-2

Even old guys like me have become aware of the current Pokemon Go craze. I don't pretend to understand all the nuances of the game, and I'm not going to elaborate on the very real spiritual dangers involved with it, but as I posted on my Facebook page, "Oh that we would pursue Christ with half the fervor we pursue Pokemon."

I saw a newsvideo report of hundreds of people running towards a site where a Pokemon character was supposed to be. Many of them were leaving their cars in the middle of the street to do so. Another report said that Pokemon Go has as many daily hits as Twitter. Elementary school age, teens, and young adults have wholeheartedly joined in on the pursuit. Most can be seen going about fixated on their devices, playing the game. They are giving themselves in part, or whole, to the game. With what "game" are you and I doing the same?

If who and what we pursue owns us, then we must be confronted with the question of just who and what does own us? Whether we're aware of it or not, and whether we try to hide our tracks with it or not, we leave a spiritual "paper trail" as concerns our heart pursuits. We are all like the deer of Psalm 42. Our hearts pant and thirst for something, for Someone. In what direction is that thirst taking us? Towards, or from Him?

I've seen Psalm 42:1-2 quoted and used countless times in the church. I confess, I have seen its reality far less often. I include myself here. I make no judgement and I do not speak condemnation, but how many of us enter into each day thirsting for the Living God as the Psalmist did? How many of us have hearts that cry out for Him? Anne Graham Lotz wrote a book titled "Just Give Me Jesus!" Her point being that nothing and no one but Jesus Christ will do for her. She yearns for Him above all else. Again, do we? Does He own our hearts, or have we given ourselves over to so many other "side" pursuits? Pursuits that in time will and do become our central ones. Do we come into our corporate gatherings hungering for Him, for His Presence? Or, do we just want some good music, good ministries that take care of us? Even "good preaching" that tells us how we can be very happy right here, right now? What are we really pursuing in our Body Life?

A very good friend of mine once described the sensation he had about a church here in Virginia when first he attended. He said that the Presence of God was so powerfully upon that place that you could "feel" Him when you first came near the property. A presence so strong that people were drawn to Him from everywhere. A Presence we cannot create, market, or exploit. It's His doing alone, but He reveals Himself to a people who wholeheartedly pursue Him. We make much of being sensitive to those who are seeking Him. Dare we give attention to becoming a people who are a Holy Spirit sensitive body of believers? No one can seek Him apart from His Spirit drawing them, and where He is being sought wholeheartedly, He will draw all that seek Him to Himself.

The experience my friend spoke of was nearly 40 years ago. I wonder, does the Presence that marked that fellowship then, mark it now?.... I close with the same earlier question. If what we pursue owns us, who are we pursuing? Who owns us? What does your paper trail say?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Heart Scream

"O my God, listen to me and hear my request. Open Your eyes and see our wretchedness. See how Your city lies in ruins - for everyone knows that it is Yours. We do not ask because we deserve help but because you are so merciful. O Lord hear. O Lord forgive. O Lord, listen and act! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, for Your people and Your city bear Your name." Daniel 9:18-19......"In our churches we may put Him in stained glass windows, but never let Him in the door. Back of all else, we may carry His Name on our lips but never crown Him in the throne room of our hearts. The way to revival in heart, home, or church, is to open the door to Jesus." Vance Havner........"Apart from Holy Ghost breakings, what will ring the emergency bell in the Church of the Living God? When are we going to stop playing church?" Leonard Ravenhill

I recently heard Anne Graham Lotz describe the prayer of Daniel in the 9th chapter of the book that bears his name as his "heart scream." Even more than a cry, it is prayer from a heart screaming in desperation for the very life of God Himself. It is prayer that comes out of a life of total brokenness. A heart that wants nothing more than Him. Not blessings, well being, success....just Him, and Him alone. Daniel cried out for the release of God's people from their Babylonian captivity. But not just a release that returned them to their homeland of Israel, but one that returned them to their true home, the very heart of their Father God. It was Daniel's heart scream. Does such a heart scream emanate from our hearts in prayer? I have no doubt that we "scream" in a great many of our prayers. What is it we scream for? That which will make or lives better, easier, more comfortable and manageable? Or, a scream that comes from a heart that has desperate need of Him above all else. A heart scream that is willing to have nothing change in the circumstances around us, but will find total joy in having His fullness within us.

Do you remember the old rhyme from childhood; "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream?" This seems to be the limit of most of our desire. The "ice cream" that this world offers. Men such as Havner and Ravenhill, writing and preaching more than 50 years ago, saw the desperate need of the church everywhere. Yet they beheld a church very content to pursue and enjoy the fruit of the Kingdom, but had little desire for the life of the Kingdom. We scream for ice cream. We don't scream for His presence. This continues as the darkness in the world increases, as sin and evil abound. We have erected reminders of Christ everywhere in our homes and church fellowships. Yet it cannot be denied that in all of them, He is far more absent than present. Far more an ideal than a reality. We slumber in the light, and the light we sleep in grows less, and the darkness more. Yet we continue to scream for ice cream instead of the bread and water of His Life.

The prayers of Daniel were mighty. They confronted the full power of hell itself, and prevailed. Heart scream prayers that have as their object the laying hold of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, will always prevail over that darkness. Ice cream prayers never will. Kingdom prayers cannot fail. Which, in the end, are we praying? The emergency bell Ravenhill spoke of is ringing. Do we hear it?

Blessings,
Pastor O